The 1991 Constitution establishes Colombia as a unitary and decentralized republic that is divided administratively and politically into 33 divisions: 32 departments, which are governed from their respective capital cities, and a capital district, Bogotá. In Colombia, resources pass from the nation to the department and from the department to the municipality, with the exception of Bogotá, which, as a capital district, is a first-order national entity.
Sovereignty rests with the Nation as a unit and, within the framework of administrative decentralization in Colombia, the 1991 Political Constitution recognizes in its article 286 the departments as territorial entities, whereby part of the administration of the State is shared among these 32 departments and the capital district, in addition to the municipalities.
The origin of the Colombian departments lies in the political-administrative division of New Granada (today Colombia and Panama), which was organized into provinces that more or less corresponded territorially to the present-day departments. With the 1858 constitution, the nation's political system changed to that of a federal republic, its name became the United States of Colombia, and the provinces were replaced by nine sovereign states (Antioquia, Bolívar, Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Panama, Santander and Tolima).
The centralist constitution of 1886 definitively changed the country's name to Republic of Colombia and converted the sovereign states into departments. The reforms of 1905 and 1910 set out the guidelines for splitting territories off from the various departments to form new entities (departments, intendancies and commissaries). With the new constitution of 1991, the existing intendancies and commissaries were promoted to departments.
Administrative regime
Departments
Categorization of the departments of Colombia under Law 617 of 2000, in 2022.
In Colombia, the legislative power is centralized, since the country is a unitary (not federal) republic; that is, only the Congress of the Republic can legislate, while the executive branch does have representatives in the departments, municipalities and/or districts. It is mistakenly believed that the Departmental Assemblies and the municipal councils are legislative bodies, but these two public corporations are organs of the executive branch, and their acts, called administrative acts, although they constitute orders, are not laws. Therefore, there is no legislative or judicial power emanating from a territorial entity, whether a department, municipality or district. Legislative and judicial power emanate entirely from the Nation, and only the national-level executive power also emanates from the Nation.
Thus, at the departmental territorial level it can be said that the executive power is in the hands of a governor, elected by popular vote since 1992, who serves a term of 4 years since 2004. The governor appoints a cabinet made up of his secretaries.
As for the judicial branch, it is represented by the Judicial District Tribunals (of the ordinary and contentious-administrative jurisdictions), but this is not decentralization, as with territorial entities, but rather deconcentration of the Nation. Generally a judicial district coincides with the territory of a department, but there are exceptions. Since legislative power is unique, so is judicial power, but the latter is deconcentrated throughout the country, so these tribunals belong to the Nation and not to the department. The same confusion may arise with the judicial circuits and judicial municipalities, which likewise belong to the nation and do not depend on any municipality.
The departmental assemblies or their members are elected by popular vote for the same term as the governor. The Assembly has between 11 and 31 deputies according to the population of the department.
Two or more departments may join together in Administrative and Planning Regions (RAP).
Departments are subdivided into municipalities, whose administration is in the hands of a mayor and a municipal council elected by popular vote for the same term as the departmental officials. Some departments with a large number of municipalities have chosen to recognize the existence of provinces or subregions, which are groups of municipalities with cultural, geographic or historical affinities, where a more important urban center is located as the capital and from which local institutions operate with jurisdiction over the other municipalities. These groupings, however, lack legal recognition.
Decree 1421, which establishes the special regime for the Capital District of Bogotá, states that "in accordance with the provisions of article 322 of the political constitution, the city of Bogotá, capital of the Republic and of the department of Cundinamarca, is organized as a capital district".
According to the decree, "the administrative powers that the Constitution and the laws confer on the departments are understood to be granted to the Capital District, insofar as they are compatible with the latter's special regime. The provisions of the Assembly and of the Governorate of Cundinamarca do not apply in the territory of the District", which makes Bogotá a first-order territorial entity in Colombia.
The government and administration of Bogotá are in the hands of the Council and the Mayor.
Bogotá is in turn divided into localities, which are controlled by:
Colombia is a unitary and decentralized republic. In accordance with article 306 of the current 1991 Constitution, two or more departments may constitute themselves as administrative and planning regions, with legal personality, autonomy and their own assets, in order to develop the territory economically and socially.
The following administrative and planning regions are currently constituted:
RAP Caribe (created in 2017 and made up of the departments of Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, Córdoba, La Guajira, Magdalena and Sucre)
RAP Eje Cafetero (created in 2018 and made up of Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda; Tolima joined in 2020)
RAP (E) Central (created in 2015 and made up of Boyacá, Cundinamarca, Meta, Tolima and the Capital District; Huila joined in 2019)
RAP Pacífico (created in 2016 and made up of Cauca, Chocó, Nariño and Valle del Cauca)
RAP Amazonia (created in 2019 and made up of Amazonas, Caquetá, Guaviare, Guainía, Putumayo and Vaupés)
RAP Gran Santander (created in 2021 and made up of Santander and Norte de Santander)
RAP del Agua y la Montaña (created in 2021 and made up of Antioquia and Caldas)
RAP Llanos (created in 2021 and made up of Arauca, Casanare and Vichada)
Statistics
Largest department: Amazonas in the south of the country, with 109,665 km².
Last first-order entity created: Guaviare in 1977.
The only department whose capital is not its most populous municipality is Putumayo.
At the urban level, Cundinamarca has the highest population density. In addition, Antioquia, Risaralda and Bolívar have high densities in their urban areas, ranging from 11,366 to 10,571 inhabitants/km².
In rural areas, or "rest" (resto), the departments with the highest density are: San Andrés and Providencia with 476 inhabitants/km²; Risaralda with 52 inhabitants/km²; and Caldas with 41 inhabitants/km².
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